For at least the next six years, electric vehicles made with battery components manufactured or assembled in China would be eligible for a $7,500 tax credit under the Democrats’ $749 billion climate and tax bill.

To prevent U.S. taxpayer dollars from subsidizing Chinese manufacturing, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) will file an amendment to clarify that the tax credit can only be applied to an electric vehicle if its “critical minerals” come from America or a country with which the United States has a free trade agreement.

“It is crazy to subsidize critical mineral and battery production in China. We expect that from the Chinese Communist Party, but not the Democrat Party. Maybe this makes sense to their friends running multinational corporations in China, but it makes no sense to those of us trying to bring good jobs back to America.” — Senator Rubio

In an 80-page report released in February 2019, Rubio warned, “the U.S. electric vehicle supply-chain is not primarily domestic-sourced” and “China already controls some key elements of the electric vehicle supply chain.” In a speech later that year at the National Defense University, Rubio called for a “a 21st century pro-American industrial policy.”

Looking forward … Rubio will file an amendment to the reconciliation bill to put the Democrats on record for subsidizing Chinese manufacturing.